Why should the mint "have to" protect it's IP? It seems a little more reasonable to simply enact a law outlining acceptable use of currency imagery. Which, IMO, should mean "you can't replicate the image of any currency in an attempt to use it as currency" - and that's it.

prosecuting people for violating a copyright is not protecting yourself. it is suing a fan to increase your own ability to make monopolist profit from the image. does the canadian mint need to make monopolist profit from the penny image? the us mint does not, and cannot hold copyrights.

I agree with the commenter who said that the government itself or it's agencies should not be allowed to hold copyrights. We pay for everything they do, so everything they print and images of their "products" should be public domain.

Summercat:Patent/Copyright laws will be the death of Western Civillization

You know, I used to think that the terrorist based nations and extreme dictators were going to be the cause of our downfall. With the advancements in technology, weapons development, religious fanaticism, Dictators flexing their Military's abilities on the world stage, the refusal to export oil and other raw goods to the US and the like. Really, I thought that this is what would cause the major damages to us. But now, as I step back and see the protections that Big Business/Wall Street has lobbied so hard for...the patent after patent of total bullshiat and the ever present lawsuit after lawsuit of one company to another...I see what our downfall will be. Corporations and IP law.

Our collapse will not be quick, rather other countries that laugh at the ridiculousness of US IP laws will continue to develop their products without restriction and eventually surpass us in technology, weapons advancements and the like.

PunkRockLawyer:If you're going to be printing copies of an image, you first check what permissions you need. This is common sense.

He's not using a copyrighted image without permission, but rather the problem is that the *subject* of the image is itself copyrighted. It's a reasonable expectation that one could take a photograph of money and publish it without worrying about such things, but this is apparently not the case in Canada.

Governments should not be allowed to hold copyrights for which they can extort fees from their own citizens. It was created with public funds. That copyright should rightfully belong to the public and be unencumbered.

I wonder how long until the US government takes this as a cue to go retroactively sue the Cobain estate

Actually, the images on US coins and bills are works of the US Government and therefore not subject to copyright, just counterfeiting laws. So you can reproduce them, just not in a manner that would be confused with real money. You can reproduce the images much smaller or larger than real money.

cgremlin:It's a reasonable expectation that one could take a photograph of money and publish it without worrying about such things, but this is apparently not the case in Canada.

If our bendover-boy PM Harper gets his way talking about pennies will be chargeable. For his infinite faults his predecessor still had the stones to tell the American IP Taliban to screw themselves. Harper starts lubing before the wheels leave LAX.

PunkRockLawyer:"Gunning said he had no idea the mint would charge for images of its coins."

Not to be a dick, but it's the guy's own damn fault he owes money. If you're going to be printing copies of an image, you first check what permissions you need. This is common sense.

He doesn't get my sympathy or my pennies.

Well, since taxpayers paid for the creation of the mint and continue to pay for its ongoing operating expenses, it was reasonable to assume that any products of that mint wouldn't be subjected to trademarks. I know *I* was surprised.